Court Sword

 This Scottish Court Sword is quick and elegant. The original dates from the 1730’s and belonged to an officer in the army of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, or Bonnie Prince Charlie, at Culloden. There it would have seen the final decisive battle of the Jacobite rebellion in 1746 as an army of Highland clansmen fought the English troops. The Highlanders were disillusioned by the Acts of Union of 1706 which had largely displaced them and their ancient traditions from power and relevance as Scotland and England joined to form the United Kingdom. They were led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, who had arrived from France to claim the throne equipped with, among other supplies, 1800 broadswords. After a few promising battle victories the Battle of Culloden ended in the crushing of the Jacobites and their dreams. Within a few years from the battle the Highland way of life had been all but eradicated. Swords such as this still remind us of those last whispers of a by-gone era. The Battle of Culloden was the last pitched battle fought on British soil.

The finely chiseled silver-plated hilt and three-edged hollow ground blade exemplify the consummate skill of the swordsmiths of the period.